ABOUT ASU

Alabama State University, founded in 1867, is a comprehensive regional university offering students from throughout the region, state and nation a world class education by providing learning experiences designed to develop intellectual abilities, as well as social, moral, cultural and ethical values. In so doing, the university is equipping its students with the skills, insights, attitudes and practical experiences that will enable them to become well-rounded and discerning citizens, fully qualified for their chosen professions in the workplace and service to humanity.

YESTERDAY
Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lincoln School of Marion in Marion, Alabama, a private institution for blacks, by nine former slaves. The founders and original trustees of our great institution are: Joey P. Pinch, Thomas Speed, Nicholas Dale, James Childs, Thomas Lee, John Freeman, Nathan Levert, David Harris and Alexander H. Curtis. The Lincoln School was incorporated on July 18, 1867 and opened November 13, 1867 with 113 students. In 1868, the Alabama State Board of Education designated the school a Normal School and it became known as Lincoln Normal School. In December 1873, the State Board accepted the transfer of title to the school after a legislative act was passed authorizing the state to fund a Normal School, and George N. Card was named President. Thus, in 1874, this predecessor of Alabama State University became the first state supported educational institution for blacks. This began ASU’s rich history as a “Teachers College.”

In 1878, the second president, William Paterson was appointed. He is honored as a founder of Alabama State University and was the president for thirty-seven of the first forty-eight years of its existence. Paterson was instrumental in the move from Marion to Montgomery in 1887. In the decades that followed, Lincoln Normal School became a junior college and in 1928 became a full four-year institution. In 1929 it became State Teachers College, Alabama State College for Negroes in 1948 and Alabama State College in 1954. In 1969, the State Board of Education, then the governing body of the university, approved a name change; the institution became Alabama State University. The 1995 Knight vs. Alabama remedial decree transformed ASU into a comprehensive regional institution paving the way for two undergraduate programs, four graduate programs, diversity scholarship funding and endowment, funding to build a state-of-the art health sciences facility and a facility renewal allocation to refurbish three existing buildings.

TODAY
Alabama State University boasts an enrollment of more than 5,000 students from 42 states and 7 countries. One-third of our students are non-Alabama residents and 11 percent are minorities. With a student-faculty ratio of 18 to 1, instructors are able to work closely with students, encourage ambition, and challenge students to meet their academic success.

Alabama State University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The University is also accredited by the following organizations and associations: The Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the National Association of Schools of Music, the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC), the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy (ACOTE), Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, and the Council in Social Work Education. In 2004, ASU was the nation’s number one producer of African-American teachers. ASU offers 47 degree programs including 31 Bachelors’, 11 Masters’, and two Education Specialists and three Doctoral courses of study. Since the remedial decree, the university has added a master of accountancy degree program, an occupational therapy program, a health information program, a clinical doctorate in physical therapy and will soon add a doctorate in microbiology followed by a forensic sciences program.

ASU is an aesthetically beautiful campus. It’s eclectic mix of Georgian-style red-brick classroom buildings and architecturally contemporary structures are unparalleled to other institutions of higher learning. ASU is home to the state-of-the-art 7,400 seat academic and sports facility the Joe L. Reed Acadome; the Levi Watkins Learning Center; a five-story brick structure with more than 267,000 volumes, the state-of-the-art John L. Buskey Health Sciences Center; which is 80,000 square-feet facility which houses classrooms, offices, an interdisciplinary clinic, three therapeutic rehabilitation labs, state-of-the-art Gross Anatomy Lab, Laboratory for the Analysis of Human Motion (LAHM), a Women’s Health/Cardiopulmonary lab, and a health sciences computer lab, and WVAS-FM 90.7; the 80,000-watt, university operated public radio station.

Alabama State University charters more than 70 student organizations, including nine Greek organizations, a full range of men’s and women’s sports and 17 honors organizations. In addition to social, cultural and religious groups, there are musical opportunities, such as the Marching Hornets and the University Choir, and departmental organizations for most majors. Men’s intercollegiate athletic programs include baseball, basketball, tennis, track and field, volleyball, softball, golf, bowling, and cross country. The ASU Hornets are members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, SWAC, and compete at the NCAA Division 1 level.

TOMORROW
Under the leadership of Alabama State University ’s 11th president, Dr. Joe A. Lee, an extensive construction program has been launched that, in addition to the newly opened Forensic Sciences facility, includes the newly completed Fred Shuttlesworth Dining Hall, the $20 million Ralph D. Abernathy College of Education building and a $26 million Life Sciences Facility to house a Ph.D. program in microbiology.

Alabama State University has come far from the early days in its distinguished history as a teacher training institution, and under Lee’s leadership, continues to build upon its proud legacy. For faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters, that “Ole Bama State Spirit” is alive and well -- and if the current growth and progress are any indication, that spirit will live on for generations to come.